The Amateur: An Independent Life of Letters

Only a sourpuss could dislike this engaging, enlightening and well-crafted autobiography by Threepenny Review's founder and editor, Wendy Lesser. In two dozen essays, we not only learn about the great obstacles inherent in starting a literary journal, we see how Lesser developed as a reader and observer. This is a delightful read filled with Lesser's wonderful observations on love, art and publishing. I highly recommend this book.

I found these essays delightful. I admire intensely the creative path the author has taken in her life, and I find her writing most engaging. This book may be of special interest to those who like to read about a writer's literary passions.

I enjoyed reading Ms. Lesser's collection of essays, anecdotes, and vignettes. (Can it really be called an autobiography?) Just when it appears that what the literary world has most to offer us are self-indulgent novels and biographies that think all readers are voyeurs and that life's lessons are learned only through humiliation (usually self-imposed) and and through emotional crises--just then along comes a small book that gives us insights into a person and, at times, into ourselves through wonderful and simply written chapters. This is not a classic--just a well-written book that deserves to be well read.

Wendy Lesser's book is a dream! The author is founder-editor of the famous Threepenny Review, a gifted practioner of the essay form. In this book she has turned a string of occasional pieces into an autobiography, a genuine encounter with a person that I for one, simply want to get to know. Ms. Lesser also writes in that spare, plain style that makes direct contact with the reader, and brings immediacy to whatever she is writing about. Here is an immensely attractive life, a person who knows who she is and who is willing to let us into a little of what she has known and thought, while preserving dignity and prudence. She is above all skilled in the fine art of discrimination.